Today’s post is about a protein component that’s absolutely critical to your bone health and to your overall health.

It’s an amino acid that plays a very important role in bone density because it keeps your muscles strong, regulates your body pH, and is necessary for the synthesis of a powerful bone-protective antioxidant.

But that’s not all; it also has many other general health benefits. So much so, that it’s been touted as the “Fountain of Youth”. Unfortunately, levels of this amino acid tend to decrease as we age.

You’ll never hear this from your doctor, so I’m thrilled to give you detailed information on this amino acid including how to make sure you have adequate levels of it.

Glutamine, The Bone-Building, Anti-Aging Powerhouse

First of all, it’s important to clarify that glutamine should not be confused with the toxic food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG). Although glutamine acts as a precursor in the production of the neurotransmitter glutamate, consuming the flavor-enhancing salt product, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is really toxic.

You see, when you consume foods flavored with MSG, you’re taking in a “free” form of glutamate that acts as an excitotoxin in the body. (Excitotoxins over-stimulate neurons, resulting in death or damage of nerve cells.) The glutamate your body produces on its own is “bound,” and is a vital component in the synaptic process.

Also, you may have seen glutamine written as L-glutamine; they are the same thing written different ways. The “L” simply refers to the way glutamine links up with other amino acids.

Before we move on to glutamine’s specific roles in the body, it’s important that we clarify…

Just What Is An Amino Acid?

Amino acids form the building blocks of proteins, which explains their extraordinarily versatile biological functions. There are 20, of which 10 are essential because they can only be obtained from food. All of them have the same basic molecular structure: an amine bonded to carboxylic acid. Proteins are involved in many body functions and are the main structural component of muscle tissue.

Glutamine, a non-essential amino acid (because your body produces it) is a particularly special amino acid, and here are some important reasons why.

Glutamine And The Master Antioxidant

If you have the Save Our Bones Program, you know that Chapter 12 is devoted entirely to antioxidants and their importance in bone health. Glutamine actually helps your body produce an antioxidant known as glutathione (GSH), the “Master Antioxidant.” GSH is very effective – it even has the ability to detoxify acetaminophen, a pain killer whose toxic nature is becoming more and more well known.1

Glutamine increases GSH levels, according to a study published in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. When rats were fed food enriched with glutamine, their glutathione levels increased.2

“Supplemental oral GLN [glutamine] further enhances GLN extraction as well as GSH fractional release in the gut,”2 the study concludes.

Getting glutamine from foods is a very effective and balanced way to deliver it exactly where it’s needed to produce the Master Antioxidant and release it into your system. In a moment, we’ll take a look at more foods that are high in glutamine.

In addition to its role in producing GSH…

Glutamine Is Crucial To Your Bone Health

One of the most amazing things that glutamine does for your bones is help regulate your body’s pH. Your kidneys produce ammonium as a byproduct of their filtering process, a toxic substance with an acidic pH. Glutamine donates a proton to an ammonia molecule, thereby eliminating an acid and preserving an alkalizing bicarbonate.

Since your kidneys filter out excess acid from the blood, they can get exhausted and overloaded if you’re eating a highly acidic diet. If you’re following the Save Our Bones Program, you’re already getting many glutamine-rich foods that are part of the vital role that diet plays in alkalizing the body’s pH.

Because of its role as a protein building block, glutamine also promotes strong, flexible muscle tissue (which is composed primarily of protein). And already Savers know that…

Strong Muscles Promote Strong Bones

When you exercise, your muscles contract to pull on your skeleton, causing motion. Muscles cannot push; they can only contract, then relax to release. In addition to the pull of gravity, this muscle-on-bone action signals your bone cells to build up and increase in density and strength at the point of friction or impact. That’s why exercise is as indispensable as diet in maintaining and building bone.

Glutamine’s list of health benefits goes beyond bone health. Next, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways glutamine acts in other body systems and processes.

Glutamine Promotes A Youthful Appearance

As glutamine production decreases with age, the body must obtain it from muscle tissue and skin, where it is normally present and accounts for firmness, strength, and elasticity. When the body must tap into its own glutamine stores, it causes the body to “dry up,” so to speak. Muscle tissue thins, and skin sags and wrinkles. This is why glutamine is sometimes referred to as the “inner fountain of youth.”

Getting plenty of glutamine in your diet prevents your body from having to use its own stores, so your skin and muscles can retain their strength and elasticity.

Digestive And Immune Systems Benefit From Glutamine

Glutamine supports the lining of the small and large intestine, thus preventing unhealthy intestinal permeability, soothing inflammation, and possibly managing various allergic reactions. It also acts as an immune system booster, preventing infection even in those whose immune systems are compromised through excessive exercise or medical procedures.3

Sources Of Glutamine

As I mentioned above, glutamine is non-essential, so your body produces it; but glutamine production decreases with age, raising the need for supplementation. Despite this, I do not recommend taking oral supplements, and here’s why.

The fact that your body makes glutamine means that it is part of a complex, delicately-balanced biological process that involves an intricate interplay between hormones, nutrients, neurotransmitters, and other body systems. Obtaining glutamine from foods avoids the potential for overdosing on glutamine, which would knock this balance off-kilter and cause all sorts of problems.

Simply put, eating glutamine-rich foods gives your body what it requires to produce what it needs.

Foods High In Glutamine

As you can see, the Save Our Bones Program already has you “covered” with regard to glutamine-rich foods. And if you’re looking for ways to prepare and enjoy them, please take a moment to check out Bone Appétit, the companion cookbook to the Program.

I am 69 and began glutamine supplements plus whey powder to build muscle mass from 3 hour a day dogs walking and was stunned it helped a growing case of ADHD — (forgetfulness and slow to conceptualize problem solving unless a needed set of tasks excited me) and my torn knee meniscus tendon causing knee to pop out of joint is eliminated! My orthopedist said this tendon cannot regrow and only steroid and hyalaraunic acid shots or ultimately, surgery could fix. I believe she is wrong! Thank you for your great info.
jane in fallbrook california

Dear Vivian,
I am a little confused. You recommended True Osteo which has only 64mg per day magnesium.
In your recent email says that you should take 400mg per day. Can you square this circle please.
Also I have come across another product here in the UK called Solgar Ultimate bone Support.
This has a different type of calcium which the manufacturers say when taken with K2 and magnesium does not have the heart risk?
It is Calcio (malato dicalcicot, citrato, bisglicinato) 1,000mg
Magnesium 500 mg
K2 65ug
Also Cobre, Zinc Vitimina D3
The above are taken from the Spanish product leaflet.
The calcium is not seaweed it is rock.
I look forward to your comments
Rodney

Rodney, like all supplements, TrueOsteo doesn’t have every Foundation Supplement that’s necessary for bone health. I recommend taking a magnesium supplement (or a multivitamin high in magnesium) in addition to TrueOsteo.

HAVING SEIZURES CAUSED BY MSG. COULD INCREASING GLUTAMINE NATURALLY HELP DECREASE CHANCES OF SEIZURES, SINCE THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THEM IS AVOIDANCE. ALSO HAVE OSTEOPOROSIS, BUT WANT TO INCREASE NUMBER NATURALLY, AND NOT USE SUGGESTTION BY DOCTOR ABOUT SHOTS. WOULD APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS AND ADVICE

Ruth, I am not currently recommending any particular collagen supplements. I prefer to focus on the foods that are rich in collagen and the nutrients that promote its production in the body, such as Vitamin C.

Hi Vivan,
Thank you so much for your helpful and encouraging info. I had osteoporosis. After taking foxamax for 5 years my bone density had improved but I ddcided to stop. Now my bone density result became bad with -2.7. I’ll have appointment with doctor next week to discuss about that. I’m pretty sure that she will ask me to take pills. But I decide it to say NO. Is water exercises good for bone because I have arthritis so being in the water it helps my joint pain. Thank you again.

Good for you, Nicole! It takes bravery to stick to your convictions about your bone health, especially when your doctor is pointing out lower density scores. And water exercise is great – although it’s not weight-bearing exercise per se, the water provides some resistance. Just about any exercise you do in water is good for your bones!

A note about your arthritis – most cases of arthritis are caused by an accumulation of acid in the body. Often, when the acidic environment in the body is balanced, the arthritis is relieved. And achieving that balance is just what the Save Our Bones Program is designed to do!

Hello from Australia, Thank you for your informative emails. My husband and I both have osteoporosis and have made the decision not to take the prescribed drugs as they did not agree with either of us and we were fearful of the side effects even before we had the good fortune to find your help. Your recent information re calcium supplements was very helpful as I was concerned about the studies on their affect on arteries. We have not been able to source the TrueOsteo brand here but, just yesterday, we discovered a product called Green Calcium which contains all the ingredients mentioned and is imported from Ireland. In regard to today’s email re glucosamine I take a product called Healthy Joints which contains glucosamine plus co-factors – Glucisamine sulfate-potassium chloride complex, ascorbic acid, citrus biofavonoids, manganese, zinc and copper (1 tablet daily). Have you an opinion on this product? We are very grateful for all your help.
Kindest regards, Marlene

Marlene, we too have found Green Calcium which is algae based. We have been taking it for about 6mths. The bone scan van will be visiting our town in August so we will have a scan then. My husband had osteopenia when we had our last scan in May 2011, so it will be interesting to see the results next time. We were taking AlgeCal, but it got too expensive to import it. The Green Calcium seemed an equivalent but heaps cheaper. We have also got my husbands cousin and his wife on it too, as his doctor had put him on Fosamax. So will be interesting to hear what their next scan reveals.

I have not researched the particular calcium supplement you’re talking about (there are just too many out there for me to look into all of them!), but if you’re comfortable that the supplement is plant-based and easily absorbed, then it’s probably just fine.

Thank you for all you do to help us stay away from the drugs that seem to do more harm than good. I have been following your emails,exercising, and eating healthy foods. I am on a drug for breast cancer and know it can have effects on my bones. Anything I can to add to counter those effects?

Good for you, Sue – you’re doing all the right things, and you’re clearly a fighter. If you’re on a drug for breast cancer, then that’s all the more reason to follow the Program! You see, the Program aims to retain the necessary minerals in the body so as not to deplete bones. It does this by maintaining an alkaline blood pH. In fact, some scientists believe that an alkaline pH not only helps retain important minerals, it also may stave off cancer from recurring! So it may have a double benefit.

Vivian, I too am grateful for your web site and for all the time that goes into researching and staying up to date on everything. I am doing your ph diet lifestyle change and need a little more encouragement. Have you ever considered a site where we could all post our success and encourage each other on this journey of hope for strong bones? I find that I am living in fear and need some companionship of people in the same boat as me.

Dear Vivian,I have read all your encouraging and convincing bulletins and purchased your excellent cookery book.I excercise daily and consume a bone friendly diet but still my bones leach and with several very painful compression fractured vertebrae and a bone density of -4.6 classified as severe osteoporosis,I have no alternative but to accept the dreaded Denusomab having reacted adversely to all oral bisphosphonates and Strontium Ranelate.Have you any advice regarding protecting myself against all the possible nasty side efffects?
Thanks.

You can actually get iff those meds by doing a complete Vitamin C IV protocol. It shifts your body so that the calcium goes back into your bones from your joints and organs. There is a special clinic opening in Panama this fall if you don’t have this therapy nearby. Wish you all the best.

I know the desperation of enduring chronic pain, but it is exactly at that point that one must take care not to make decisions that can worsen the situation. Please explore all options and, before you choose, ask yourself if this, without question, is a solution.
Andrea

I have osteoporosis and have recently been diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism. Am I fighting a losing battle in trying to reverse osteoporosis naturally with this condition? Thank you for all your information and articles.

Hello, I have been trying to heal hyperparathyroidism naturally for over 6 months but am having an operation this week to remove the offending gland. The side effects have become worse and worse: not just bone density loss and anxiety but aches and pains in muscles, depression, nausea, dizziness and digestive problems. From my experience I would deal with the parathyroid before you worry about the bones as with this condition the body consistently takes calcium from the bones and puts it into your blood making you feel awful. All the best, Celia

Dear vivian,
Thank you very ,very much for this excellent information.
I truly appreciated all your e-mails.
May GOD richly bless you as you continue to share
your knowledge to us.
Hoping to meet you someday to thank you personally.
Kind regards, Marlene

Very interesting information about glutamine. I recently read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a biochemist whose young daughter was diagnosed with autism. In researching the literature on autism, this woman read the story of another child who recovered (!) from autism by eliminating all the monosodium glutamate from her diet…not only foods with MSG on the label, but also the food additives that are hidden sources of free glutamic acid, like soy protein, yeasts, etc. So you caught my attention when you wrote, “…when you consume foods flavored with MSG, you’re taking in a “free” form of glutamate that acts as an excitotoxin in the body. (Excitotoxins over-stimulate neurons, resulting in death or damage of nerve cells.)” I wonder if there might possibly be such a connection to autism?? In any case, the biochemist switched her daughter to a whole foods diet (which is free of all processed foods, and includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and meats), and her autism symptoms disappeared. Now age 7, she no longer has autism. Sounds miraculous to me, and definitely worth a lot more study! What do you think?

I’m not surprised that eliminating junk food helped the little girl, Karla… it would most certainly help anyone become healthier. I haven’t researched autism, but it’s certainly great news that the common sense diet eliminated all the symptoms.

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This information is not intended to replace recommendations or advice from physicians or other healthcare providers. Rather, it is intended to help you make informed decisions about your health and to cooperate with your healthcare provider in a joint quest for optimal wellness. If you suspect you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek medical attention from a competent healthcare provider.